Archive for the ‘Brave Writer Philosophy’ Category

Forums: How it works

The following is posted on the Brave Writer public forums. I loved it! Such a great example of how it’s supposed to work. 🙂

Today, I wanted my nine year old to really get into telling a story so rather than bog him down with the handwriting, I figured I would type for him while he dictated his story.

At the breakfast table this morning, we developed a character. I started off by saying the character was a boy. Then he added a detail about the character, then I did, and so on until we had quite a description going of this kid who lives in a jungle and has a pet monkey.

Then this afternoon, I grabbed my laptop and we hit the couch and curled up with blankets and pillows for him to “write” his story. I started him off with the typical “One day…” and he took it from there.

It was a bit of a struggle to begin with but then he was cruising and had so many thoughts flying out of his mouth. After I had typed a whole page, he said he was out of ideas but the story was at a cliffhanger moment actually so I told him that was enough and we could call it Chapter One.

He was so excited by the whole process. He has been running around all afternoon with his story that we printed off. He even decided to start a new club with his 6 year old sister called “The Story Club.” He asked if he could use my laptop and they both sat at the kitchen table while he guided her through the process of developing her own character. He typed while she dictated. Now, he can’t really type so this was a long laborious process but he was not deterred. My daughter lost interest before he did which I was surprised at as he had to do the typing. So he saved her character and I have a feeling they will come back to it another day.

I’m looking forward to him continuing his story and having fun with his imagination and words!

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Writing Your Revision Feedback

Writing Your Revision Feedback
One of the ways we help moms in our primary writing course, The Writer’s Jungle Online, is to give them an understanding of how to affirm the good and enhance the weak in their children’s writing. Because the classes are in an online format, all of our communication with parents is through writing. We read the work done by your children and then we comment on it by posting our thoughts almost line by line.

A parent can then print the post and have a concrete record of the steps to take to improve the writing with the child. The written revision notes, in turn, provide a model for future interactions with your child when you are on your own.

Part of what makes the class feedback so powerful for both you and your child is that it is thorough. It goes through the draft systematically:

  • asking questions of the text,
  • noting clever uses of language or insightful ideas,
  • identifying the places where a few more thoughts, words or sentences would expand the meaningfulness of the content,
  • noting which part of the piece might serve as an opening hook, and so on.

A parent can read this feedback and take it, evaluate it, then make use of it with her child. But she can also print it and hand it to the child to be read together as a way to discuss editorial feedback. In this case, the pair has triangled in a third party and it is easier to evaluate the comments together, sitting on the same side of the fence than when it is mother directly to child.

Still, once class is over, some moms revert to the habit of quick, verbal feedback that is offered right as the draft is finished, with little time to pause and enjoy the original act of creation. Other moms, though, have discovered that they can approximate the experience of that nurturing environment by emulating that process!

One way to do this is to always type the draft/freewrite into a Word doc. Then, later in the day when you are alone away from your child, give it the kind of attention a KWB instructor might. Go line by line looking for those places you can offer affirmation and positive feedback. Type that in, including smilie faces and exclamation points! As you find places that show insufficient development, ask for more. You can write, “I love this. I’d love to hear more about it. What else happened that day?” When you stumble across an alliterative word pair, highlight it saying, “Great repeated use of the “h” sound here!”

As you write the feedback, you’ll become calmer and you’ll also discover that your eye when you read naturally gravitates to error rather than strength. But giving your child’s paper enough respect to write your feedback, you’ll slow down and become more aware at the successes within it; the makings of a good paper.

When you have typed up your comments right in between all the original writing (using a different color or italics or bold), print it out. Get some tea, cookies and a pencil. Then sit with your child over the yummy treats and read it together. Talk about the feedback you give and allow your child to offer you his or her perspective on what you wrote. This kind of discussion enables you to use the paper as the triangling force so that you and your child remain on the “same side” of the discussion.

For those who really want to see this process in action, I strongly urge you to take The Writer’s Jungle Online. It is repeatedly the key step in the process to becoming an excellent writing coach and ally for your kids.

When I’m asked whether it is better to purchase The Writer’s Jungle (an excellent resource for the self-directed, to be sure) or to take the online class, if you have to choose between them, I always recommend the class. It is the best way for you to become fluent in the skills of coaching writing.

The Writer's Jungle Online

Posted in Brave Writer Philosophy, Homeschool Advice, Young Writers | Comments Off on Writing Your Revision Feedback

Reluctant Revisers

Reluctant Revisers

Julie-
I am posting here in response to the “Brave Revising” email, you sent out.

I am wondering about reluctant revisers. My 12 year old daughter will free write beautifully and willingly , but resists my input on revising. I feel like I am judging her work when I do offer suggestions.

I am considering taking the revising course, but would love to hear what you have to say about gently and effectively revising.
Thanks.
Anne

Great question Anne!

Revising, for most kids, feels like criticism. They take it personally when errors are found in their writing. Yet find them we do and we can’t very well ignore glaring mistakes in punctuation or grammar, don’t want to overlook the opportunity to encourage more details or facts.

So let’s start with the philosophy of revision so that you can rethink how you might go about fostering a safe space for it:

Revision is not the same as mopping up the mechanics. Editing is the final step in a paper and that’s when your eyes get to be really picky about what they see. That final step means going over the typing (or handwriting) with a fine-toothed comb, looking for errors to clean up right at the last minute. The content will stay as it is.

Revision, on the other hand, is about reshaping the original piece. Its focus is the content and how to narrow vague ideas, how to expand poorly developed ones, how to reorganize the piece to flow with more power and so on.

Most of the time, the mistake we parents make is that we move from draft to editing in one step. Or we might move to revising and editing at the same time. When a child risks writing and shares content with you, if the first thing you notice is the misspelled word, the child literally feels insulted and hurt (like you missed the point!). Let me give you an example of how it feels:

What if you had dolled yourself up for an evening out with your husband: new hair style, brand new shoes, glittery top, slinky pants… and when you appeared in the room, he said, “Aren’t you going to wear the earrings I bought you?” or worse, “You’ve got lipstick on your teeth.” Rather than being bowled over by the original impact of your overall look, he notices first thing what you didn’t wear or he points out the one mistake in the look (something that could easily be corrected moments later after he tells you how amazing you look).

If he had simply expressed his amazement at how great you looked first, you’d probably be more than happy to consider adding his earrings to the ensemble. And of course you’d want to know about the lipstick on your teeth before you left the house. It’s just, those are not the first things you want noticed after all that work to surprise and amaze your husband.

With writing, your kids are risking their precious insights, words, knowledge, ideas every time they commit them to paper. Your first task, then, is to notice! Find the quirky idea, vocabulary word or fresh insight and praise it! Be impressed by the amount of writing (no matter how much is there). Engage the material with follow-up questions that show you are interested in more of their ideas (not to elicit “better” material, but to show that you really do care about the topic and are impressed with what they know about it).

Once you’ve done that, on another day you can tackle the revision needs. Here are a couple of principles to keep in mind when you go to help with revision.

1. The writer is the author and therefore has final editorial control.

That means you are offering ideas and suggestions, not giving commands or edicts.

2. Your suggestions for improvement are better framed as options to consider.

When you read along, it works better to say, “I loved this part that details the preparation of the meal. I’m wondering about the colors of the foods in this particular recipe. What are they? Do you think that might add a little more detail to the original?” Invite dialog around your suggestions and ask their opinions. You can offer to jot little notes in the margin so they don’t forget what you discussed together.

3. Ask your children for their ideas for revision.

Sometimes we assume that they have none, that they are satisfied with the writing as is. Truth is, if they get a few days away from the draft, they may find that when they come back to the draft, they have fresh energy and eyes and are interested in expanding it or enhancing it with more detail.

4. Which brings me to my most important point: Separate revision from drafting.

Never do them on the same day. Spend time enjoying and praising the draft on one day. Then let a couple days go by before revisiting the piece with revision ideas.

5. Save all editing (mechanics, punctuation, grammar, spelling, typos) for the end, once all revising is done.

Resist the temptation to correct as you go. Unless your child spontaneously corrects them upon review, you are to keep your hands in your pockets. Editing is the final step that is done after you are thoroughly finished with revising.

6. Remember: not everything has to be addressed in this paper.

Expand, enhance, correct, improve one or two things and leave the rest. The problems in this paper will magically reappear in future writing to be addressed then. We homeschool parents tend to expect perfection every time. Totally unnecessary in writing development. Allow for the growth in writing to be a journey through multiple pieces of writing, not just this one.

Partnership Writing

Posted in Brave Writer Philosophy, Young Writers | 4 Comments »

When freewriting isn’t fun

What to do when freewriting isn't fun

Not everyone likes freewriting. Some kids feel pressured by the timer, they worry about making mistakes (even after being told that they can make all the mistakes they want!), they resist the idea of writing about any random topic. Others just don’t like writing and freewriting feels like one more writing task no matter how many times they are told that this is an easier form of writing than the one they are used to.

Our oldest son (Noah) told me that while he can write (and I’d say he writes well!), and while he certainly does know how to freewrite (and has done plenty of it), writing has never gotten easier for him. When he faces a blank page, he still fights the sensation of momentary panic and inertia.

And yet, I still firmly believe that every person can learn to write so that they are competent as adult writers. Even if they have that initial surge of panic when staring at a blank page, they will have cultivated some strategies for tackling the topic anyway!

Freewriting gives writers a chance to get the swirl of words inside, out of their heads and bodies and onto a page or computer screen. Those words, once out and visible, can be honed, revised, enhanced and massaged into better prose or exposition. Freewriting helps to untangle the jumble or to at least put the writer in touch with what there is to say (or not) about a topic.

Part of the charm of freewriting (its lack of structure, its freedom, its open-endedness) sometimes causes a surprising counter-reaction in some kids. These young writers feel too much freedom! They want guidelines, structure, clarity about the expectations. They want to avoid making a mess that will be required to go through a revision process later. So let’s look at how to help them over the hump with some novel ways to make freewriting less “free” while retaining the essential messiness that is most beneficial in terms of real writing later.

What to do when freewriting isn't fun

Image by Brave Writer mom Melody

TOPICS
Some kids really do need a subject to get them going. Asking them to simply “write” whatever is on their mind is too big. Their minds are busy places and they can’t narrow the swirl of ideas down into a manageable size for writing. To help these kids, we suggest the “freewrite list.” One week, instead of freewriting, ask your kids to write a list of all the things they love and know lots about. This list can be written straight down the page and can include things like: soccer, horses, Harry Potter, how to make cookies, quilting, pet ferrets, hacky sacks, Starcraft, decorating Christmas trees, blow drying hair, WWII tanks, Star Wars, American Girl doll outfits and planting bulbs. There are no right topics. Only those your kids love and know well. Once you have a list, each week let your child pick a topic from the list to write about.

TOO MUCH TIME
Some kids do better with a few more boundaries around the freewrite. Rather than a 7-10 minute period, limit the time frame to 2-3 minutes. Ask your child to write as quickly as possible, without stopping, putting anything that comes to mind onto the paper. Keep the sessions short and don’t worry at all about content. The idea here is to just keep the pencil moving for 2-3 minutes.

PERFECTIONISM
Some kids are haunted by a need to know how to spell, how to punctuate, when to capitalize and so on. To be told that errors are permissible doesn’t ease the anxiety. Usually there are two reasons for this. The first is that the child is just one of those neat-nik kids who prefers order and hates a mess. For that child, simply tell him that if he doesn’t know how to spell a word, to call it out to you and you will instantly recite the proper spelling so he can continue without stopping. If this happens every third word, then you will need to let him know that he can make his mistakes but you promise to correct them with him as soon as he finishes.

The other kind of perfectionist is the one who knows that any mistake she makes will be required to be fixed by you. These kids are the ones who’ve figured out that if they don’t write perfectly the first time, they’ll have to revise and edit until you are satisfied with the product. First, reassure your child that this freewrite will not go through any revision. When it’s done, it’s done. Second, take a piece of scratch paper, crumple it up and then smooth it out again. Tell your child to freewrite on the crumpled page. Often, just seeing that the paper cannot possibly be used as a final copy will prevent the tendency to be overly careful with the freewrite.

What to do when freewriting isn't fun

Image by Brave Writer mom Anne

HURTING HANDS
Some kids grip their pencils so tightly that when you add the pressure of a timer (and the instruction to write speedily), they cause themselves pain when they freewrite. No wonder they hate it! For these kids, you can try two options. For younger kids whose handwriting skills are still developing, offer to type their freewrites while they narrate orally to you. For older kids, let them freewrite on the computer from time to time until they learn to relax their hands.

NATURAL WRITING RESISTANCE
Some kids are naturally less verbal than others. They fight to find the words they need in their oral communication and find writing that much more of a challenge. Freewriting is an invitation to pain, for these kids! It’s like they have to openly admit that words don’t come easily to them. It’s not that they can’t speak, but they find themselves moving at a slower verbal pace than the chatty-Cathy’s around them. For kids like this, sometimes a timer feels like pressure rather than release. I suggest instead of timing these kids, ask them to keep writing until they are tired. That may mean they write one sentence and that’s all they can muster. Encourage these kids especially to write about that frustration as it comes up. They can write things like:

    I love playing lacrosse with the junior high team but i hate it when I don’t get to play attack. I’m so mad that I have to write. This is hard. My hand is cramping. I want to play attack.

Like that. They need to be helped to really express what is in the way of the words. These kids tend not to give language to their frustration or their physical sensations. So you can draw them out with questions, etc.

Top image by Cinder’s (cc text added)

Posted in Brave Writer Philosophy, Friday Freewrite, Writing Exercises, Young Writers | Comments Off on When freewriting isn’t fun

Freewriting: A Rationale

Freewriting: a rationale

Many  of you are comfortable with freewriting. If you’ve been with Brave Writer any length of time, you know that freewriting is a core practice when becoming a fluent writer. At a certain point in time, though, many moms worry that that is “all” their kids are doing. They can handle copywork, dictation, and freewriting (these practices are as concrete as times tables work sheets!), but getting beyond freewriting feels like a real challenge. But I want to underscore again, the value of freewriting and to help you see that you aren’t just killing time until your kids do “real” writing. Freewriting is real and valuable and the foundation of all future writing.

Besides being the easiest way to get locked up words unlocked, freewriting is also the best way to help your kids stay fluent with their handwriting skills. In this age of computer use (where sometimes I go days without holding a pencil in my hand), it becomes important to give your children the chance to keep their handwriting legible while speedy. They will handwrite more than you or I do as they move through their academic careers.

Today in universities, more and more professors use the “in-class timed essay” as a way to gauge student progress in the material. With the rise of Internet fraud and plagiarism, professors have one sure way to guarantee that they are getting student work (not a purchased or stolen product). They can ask their students to write in-class essays. Those essays are invariably in hand-writing. Not only that, they are written to a “time limit” (sounds like writing to a timer, right?) and they are written without the aid of resources to reference as they cough up their ideas onto the page.

Freewriting, early and regularly, puts your children
at a real advantage in the academic world.

Your kids will grow comfortable expressing themselves on paper with pen in hand, they become aware of how quickly they need to write to fill a page in a number of minutes, they aren’t intimidated by the blank page and they know they can gather their thoughts and spew them out on command as they grow adept at writing.

Additionally, even for those papers that occur outside of the classroom, where research, computers and time offer students the possibility of revision, freewriting still serves a powerful purpose. It allows kids to write their thoughts and ideas in short, powerful bursts. They can tackle one aspect of a topic and really hone in on it in freewriting before they start crafting an essay. This is especially important in the writing they will do later in life. Too often kids fall into the trap of lifeless, point-by-point writing where they lull their professors and teachers to sleep with the predictable pattern of points and supports, no freshness, no originality. Freewriting disturbs this trend. It helps kids get back in touch with the quirky, insightful person inside and dislodges the words that would be overlooked in the pedantic plodding methodology of most “papers-for-school” writing that other students write.

Finally, freewriting can be a lively and poignant opportunity to get to know your child’s passions and viewpoints.

Freewriting has often served as a way for me to know my kids:
what they’re thinking, how they are processing something,
why they are worried or exuberant.

Even when it seems that the academic purpose is lost in the freewriting, the person that is your child never is. See freewriting as a multi-faceted chance to enhance your child’s comfort with handwriting, ability to write under pressure, as preparation for a life of insightful writing and the chance to express an interior life on paper.

It does all that, and more! Freewriting is the core of a healthy writing life.

Freewriting Prompts

Posted in Brave Writer Philosophy, Friday Freewrite | 6 Comments »